A Beautiful Distraction
by Jennasaurus-Rawr
Summary: Draco's more than a bit distracted by a certain blonde. Will anything happen? Only time and a couple of nosy friends know the answer! Also starring: Gorillas, Hermione as a crazed Hippogriff and Ron threatening to throw something in the loo! OneShot.


A/N: I own none of these wonderful characters. I just make them do what I want!

Hope you enjoy it, let me know if you do. :)

...

Draco had finally escaped the mind numbing company of the two, ogre sized boys who used to be his closest friends. He had only been back at Hogwarts a week but the moment he got back they had started following him around, like the habit was permanently ingrained in them. Draco was beginning to suspect that they were actually just gorillas with a slight understanding of the English language. They ate with him, trailed him to every class and, on one rather awkward occasion, decided to follow him into the bathroom, which he had stopped with a few choice words and it had (thankfully) not happened again since.

He just needed some time to himself, away from all the jeering of his fellow Slytherins, who, despite having welcomed him back with bright smiles and light embraces, mocked his family constantly behind his back. It certainly didn't help matters that he was no longer the spoilt, cocky boy he used to be. While the rest of his housemates continued to act like they were fifteen and nothing had changed, Draco had moved on. He refused to enter into petty name calling and bitchiness towards any of the other returning students, which was a great irritation to his former buddies. Just the amount of harassing he got from the Slytherins when he happened to say 'hey' to Potter in passing was enough to make him seriously reconsider his return to school. He stayed, however, partly because deep down he did want to properly finish his seventh year, but also because he didn't want to run away. He'd had to run from so much in his life and for once he actually wanted to be strong and finish what he started.

With his father in Azkaban, the Dark Lord defeated, and his mother practically a walking zombie of depression, Draco was pretty much in control of himself and what he did. It took him a fair while to decide to come back to school, he was still deciding what to do when September 1st arrived. He realised 3 weeks later that he did want to go back, had nothing better to do and had absolutely nothing to lose. So on September 23rd he found himself climbing the front steps of Hogwarts, a suitcase and an owl cage in tow. When the great doors opened to reveal Professor McGonagall, now Headmistress, he felt a strange mix of emotions he hadn't felt in a very long time. Comfort, relief, and maybe (though he wasn't quite sure) the beginnings of happiness. It occurred to him in that exact moment that more than ever he wanted, no, wished, that everything would turn out okay.

Draco had hoped this year would be a fresh start, a new beginning to his story. Then he arrived at Hogwarts and was faced with the same old people with their same old habits. How could he move on with his life when he was literally stuck in his own past?

...

For almost a month, Draco seemed to fly through Hogwarts. He had mountains of homework to get through, not to mention the three weeks of work he missed at the start of term that he had to study. For the most part he tried to distance himself from the other Slytherins, politely declining invites to parties and outings. After a while, most of them just stopped bothering. The only people who still hung around and talked to him were his pet gorillas, Blaise Zabini and occasionally Pansy Parkinson (though he really would have preferred it if she'd stop bothering him). Blaise had been a welcome surprise for a few reasons. For one, Draco would never have expected him to step foot in Hogwarts again. But apparently like himself, Blaise had decided finishing seventh year wasn't such a waste of time. Another reason why Draco appreciated Blaise's presence was because, whilst he had joined the others in a bit of Malfoy mocking to begin with, he had grown tired of their childish behaviour and missed his best friend. Draco had missed his friend too and was very grateful to have someone to talk to honestly, who could relate to how he felt.

Along with Draco, Pansy and Blaise, many of last year's seventh years had return to finish their previously disrupted studies.

...

_Draco was not at all surprised when he walked into the Great Hall on his first morning back and spied the Golden Trio laughing casually with the other Gryffindors at their table. He had wandered slowly over to the Slytherin table, sitting with his back to the wall, facing the other 3 houses. He glanced over each of them, scanning for familiar faces._

_Suddenly he was aware of a silvery white shimmer in the corner of his eye. Draco turned to see what had caused it, and for a brief moment he thought a Veela had entered the hall. But after a longer look he realised it was actually Luna Lovegood. He watched as she walked over to Neville Longbottom, placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly into his ear for a minute. He nodded in response to her words and they smiled at each other._

_Then, as if she had felt Draco's gaze upon her, turned quickly on the spot and stared into his eyes. Draco, taken aback by this sudden movement, was temporarily lost in a pair of pale grey eyes. Eyes not unlike his own…_

_Neither knew how long they held eye contact for, it felt like both a century and a second. But the moment came to an abrupt end when Blaise dropped down into the empty seat next to Draco, roughly slapping him on the back in a hearty greeting. He'd jumped at the action, but tried to hide it as best he could._

_"Blaise, hey man, how are you?"_

_"Great, real great. Good to have you back."_

_Blaise grinned at him, then turned to a few Slytherins on the other side of the table and joined in their conversation, all the while piling a mountain of food onto his plate. And people thought Ron Weasley could eat…if only they knew!_

_Draco looked back to where Luna had been standing a moment ago, but she was suddenly nowhere to be seen. There was a pinprick of disappointment in his heart, but as he had no idea what he would do if she were still there, her absence was probably for the best. Anyway, he couldn't get caught up on her…she was Loony Lovegood and she was dating Longbottom…wasn't she?_

_..._

Thanks to all his school work, Draco experienced very little in the way of excitement or social interaction for his first couple of months. Excluding only a few nights when Blaise and he had taken advantage of the 'eighth Years' special privileges, and gone out for a drink in Hogsmeade.

However, this changed on one unusually sunny afternoon in late November, when he was sitting out in the courtyards. He'd folded his robes to act as a cushion on the stone bench where he sat and was so distracted by the book he was reading that he never even saw them approach.

"Malf…uh…Draco?"

Draco looked up to see the Golden Trio standing before him, looking friendly, if not a little wary. He smiled at them.

"Well hello there. Can I help you with anything?"

Weasley looked towards Granger, who looked to Potter…Draco mentally chastised himself. _They have actual names…and if they had matured enough to use his, surely he could do the same._ Hermione gently nudged Harry forward, he scowled at her slightly then began talking.

"Uhh so listen, a bunch of us are going out to Hogsmeade tomorrow night…" Harry faltered here.

"And…" Draco prompted, he was quite intrigued as to where this was going.

As usual, Hermione interrupted before Harry could continue.

"And we were wondering, since you haven't really been anywhere and most of the Slytherins are ignoring you, whether you'd like to come with us?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "How would you know I haven't been going anywhere?"

Now it was Ron's turn to answer. "Mate, everyone talks about everything in this place. It's common knowledge you spend most nights reading in the common room."

"So much for privacy," Draco replied.

Harry chuckled. "Tell me about it. So what do you say? Do you want to come hang out with us? No pressure of course, you don't have to…we just thought we'd ask."

"Harry, you're rambling," Hermione said, holding back a grin and patting his arm gently. Ron snorted to hold back a laugh.

Draco thought for a moment. "When you say bunch…"

"It'll just be us three and a few others, nothing too crowded," Hermione explained.

"Hmm."

"Come on man, come out, have a drink, relax." Ron smirked then added, "Let your hair down."

Draco chuckled. "Well, since you are being so persuasive, sure. I'll come."

"Really?" Harry looked slightly shocked.

Hermione, on the other hand, was sporting a massive smile. "Wonderful! We are leaving here at 7:30pm. You could meet us in the entrance hall then, or just catch up with us in Hogsmeade."

Draco nodded. "Okay."

"Cool, we'll see you then." Harry smiled, and the three friends turned to leave.

Draco stood, picked up his book and cloak and turned to head inside. Then he turned back a moment later.

"Hey…" He called out to the backs of Harry, Hermione and Ron, who all stopped and looked around.

Draco walked over to them and placed a friendly hand on Harry's shoulder. "Thanks for thinking of me. It's nice, really nice of you."

Ron and Harry grinned at him, as Hermione gently placed an arm around his shoulders and gave a little squeeze.

"You're most welcome Draco." Then, dropping her arm, "Now, get to class. And don't be late tomorrow!"

"Alright, alright I'm going," Draco smiled at them all once more, then walked away.

He could've sworn he heard Hermione say, as soon as he'd turned his back, 'I told you he'd say yes…didn't I tell you?' which was closely followed by two groans!

...

Draco had so far gone through his whole trunk, throwing items of clothing onto his bed as he searched for something to wear. Having found nothing, he decided to repeat the process, this time throwing unwanted items back into his trunk.

He finally decided on navy skinny jeans, his favourite sky blue shirt and a pale grey blazer. By 6:50pm he had showered, done his hair, dressed and was already ready. He sat on the edge of his bed. It occurred to him that he was perhaps a little nervous about the night ahead.

After half an hour of sitting, reading and a bit of pacing, he left his dorm and headed for the entrance hall.

"Draco," Harry called out as he entered the hall. Ron and Hermione were there as well.

"Hey. Are we leaving now?" Draco asked.

Hermione smiled, "We're just waiting on-"

"Sorry I'm late," the voice came from the staircase behind him, "Couldn't find my other shoe."

Draco turned. Luna Lovegood was hurriedly descending the stairs, coat in one hand, bag and shoes in the other and hair flying out behind her. He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd started holding and looked back at the others. Ron raised an eyebrow as Draco caught his eye.

Luna reached the bottom of the stairs and joined their little party. She placed her silver pumps on the floor and slipped into her coat, buttoning it quickly. Then she turned to Draco.

"Hello Draco! Mind if I borrow your arm for a minute?"

"Uhh…" Draco held out his arm for her, slightly confused.

"Thanks," Luna grinned at him, then gently grabbed his arm to steady herself as she slipped into her heels. "That's a lovely shirt, by the way."

"Th-thanks."

Hermione was watching Draco, who was staring at Luna's hand on his arm. She giggled and he instantly looked to her, his cheeks ever so slightly pinker than usual.

Luna released her grip a moment later.

"Are we all ready to go, or are we waiting for someone else?"

"The others are meeting us there, so we should get going," explained Ron, and they all started towards the front doors.

...

Once in Hogsmeade, they headed to the Three Broomsticks, where they met up with Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. They all ordered drinks and sat in a corner booth around a large round table. There was much chatting and laughing and drinking.

A couple of hours later, Draco excused himself and headed to the bathroom. But someone followed him…

"Draco."

He'd just entered the bathroom, and turned to see Ron standing by the door.

"Yes?"

"Hermione and I were talking, and we couldn't help but notice you seem to have a bit of a, uhh, soft spot for Miss Lovegood." Ron half smiled-half smirked at Draco, waiting for his reply.

Draco's face went red…but it wasn't from all the drinks he'd consumed!

"I…uhmm…you see…well…." Draco trailed off, utterly bewildered at how to reply to Ron's statement.

He took a minute to clear his head, Ron waited patiently.

"How likely would you be to believe me if I told you Hermione and yourself were wrong?"

Ron grinned at him. "About as likely as me becoming a giant-spider tamer."

"Right. Fine, you are correct. I have sort of been, uhh, distracted by Luna for a little while now."

"Define 'little while'."

"…Since the first day I got back." Draco stared at the floor, not wanting to see Ron's reaction.

Ron's eyebrows shot up as far as they could go.

"Ohh, man…really? We thought it was just a recent thing."

Draco looked back to Ron.

"Yea. I saw her at breakfast that day and…I don't know…she looked so different. Beautiful. And we like, locked eyes for a moment and something just happened…"

Rather shocked by Draco's confession, Ron simply stood quietly for a minute.

"Have…have you said anything to anyone? Have you said anything to Luna?"

Draco looked at Ron as if he was completely insane.

"Merlin's beard…NO, of course I haven't said anything to her!"

"Why not-" Ron began asking.

He was interrupted by quick, urgent-sounding knocking on the door. Ron, being closer to the door, pulled it open slowly. Hermione barged in.

"Hermione?! You can't come in here, it's the MEN'S bathroom!" Ron was still holding the door, possibly hoping she'd leave as quickly as she came.

"Shut up, Ronald! I know you're both in here, I know what you're talking about and I wanna know the details. So spare me your whining and fill me in." She stood between the two flabbergasted men, crossed her arms and waited.

The door swung shut as a stunned Ron let go of it. Hermione sent a quick Colloportus spell at the door to lock it. (She wanted all the juice, but no one else needed to barge in and find out!)

Hermione caught Draco's eye and he looked away quickly.

"What's happened?" She looked worried and suspicious. "Ron, did you do something to him? Say something?"

"Oh come on, lay off me. He's-"

Draco suddenly began speaking. "Hermione, Ron's fine, he's been very nice. He explained how you two had noticed my…affections for Luna. So I was telling him about how I got rather stunned by her on my first day back…"

Hermione's jaw momentarily hit the floor as she processed this information. Then she squealed.

"YOU'VE LIKED HER THAT LONG? How, why? Tell me EVERYTHING?"

Draco looked slightly terrified by the very excited Hermione.

"Yes, I've liked her for that long. But I haven't asked her out. I haven't talked to her at all actually."

Hermione appeared somewhat disappointed by this. "Why haven't you?"

Ron shook his head and sighed. "That's what I was asking him before you charged in here like a crazed Hippogriff."

Hermione scowled at him darkly, then turned her full attention back to Draco.

There was silence for a few minutes. In which time there was a knock at the door and Ron bluntly told the knocker to 'Bugger off and pee in a pot plant' and Hermione told him he could've just said 'Out of order'.

Finally Draco began speaking.

"To be honest, I'm not sure exactly why I haven't said anything to her. I guess I'm just scared." Draco looked to Ron, who smiled, then to Hermione, who walked over and gently held his arm.

"Scared of what?" she asked softly.

"Everything. What she thinks of me, what she'll say, being outright rejected…"

Hermione squeezed his arm. "Naww."

Then she giggled.

Draco thought she'd gone a bit mad. There was nothing funny about what he'd said.

"Hermione," Ron said sternly, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

She was still giggling uncontrollably.

"It's just…you're so scared of…what she thinks…" Hermione tried to speak.

Having witnessed a non-stop laughing Hermione before, Ron knew a distraction was in order, and he decided to take measures into his own hands. He took Hermione's bag from her and went to one of the cubicles.

"HERMIONE! IF YOU DON'T STOP LAUGHING RIGHT NOW I AM GOING TO FLUSH YOUR ENTIRE BAG!"

The laughing died out immediately.

"NO! RON, don't. I'm sorry. I've stopped laughing. I'm fine now. See?"

Ron looked sceptical, but walked towards to her and handed the bag back.

"Now do you mind explaining why you went temporarily barmy? Because I'm pretty curious and I'm guessing Draco is too."

"Okay, okay." Hermione took a deep breath. "I was just…overcome with how taken Draco seems to be by Luna, yet how totally terrified he is to do anything about it."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "It's not exactly a comical situation."

Hermione smiled widely at him.

"It is when you know what I know."

"And what exactly do you know?" Ron asked.

"I know that Luna comes up to me every week saying 'god he's beautiful' and 'you should've seen the way we looked at each other' and 'why hasn't he asked me out yet'."

Ron looked like someone had punched him in the stomach and Draco's eyes widened to the point that they were in danger of falling out of his skull.

Hermione, meanwhile, stood there smirking at the reactions her information had caused.

First to speak was Draco (although maybe speak isn't quite the word for it)!

"I…she…what…excuse me?"

"You heard me Draco." Hermione giggled slightly from the look on his face. "Miss Luna Lovegood, the girl you've been so distracted by since your first day back, has been waiting for you to ask her out since that very day."

"BUT…Longbo-Neville? Aren't they, you know, a thing?"

Ron seemed to have finally recovered from his shock and spoke up.

"Mate, they haven't been a 'thing' for ages. And Hermione…why didn't you tell me that?"

"BUT…they look so…"

"Close?" Hermione finished for him. "They may not be together anymore but they are still best friends. JUST best friends. And Ronald, I didn't tell you because you didn't need to know!"

A cheeky glint suddenly appeared in Draco's eyes. "So what you're saying is she actually likes me…"

"And there's nothing standing in your way, yes, that's what I'm saying." Hermione squeezed his arm, which she was still gently holding.

She pulled her wand from her bag, unlocked the door and turned back to him.

"Go get the girl!"

Draco took a few steps towards the exit, then turned and quickly engulfed Hermione in a massive bear hug.

"Thank you…..seriously…thank you, thank you, thank you." He quickly headed to the door, gave Ron an excited clap on the back and was gone.

Ron looked to Hermione, who grinned.

"Do you think they'll work?" he asked her.

"I think they're perfect," she replied.

...

Draco almost skipped out of the bathroom, but tried to compose himself as he got closer to their table.

"You feeling alright?" Neville asked him when he returned.

"You were a bloody long time in the bathroom," Seamus stated.

"We were about to send a search party to look for you," Dean added.

They all grinned and Ginny chuckled.

"I'm fine. Better than fine actually. Quite wonderful." He smiled at them, then looked at Luna, who was staring at him with an odd expression.

"Luna. Could I speak with you outside for a moment?"

"Sure." She stood and followed him to the front door, stopping as he picked her coat off the rack and helped her into it.

Outside, the sky was dark and there was a crisp wind.

"So what's up?" Luna asked casually.

"I…well…I wanted to ask…see…" Draco was suddenly very nervous. _Curse you feelings!_

Luna took a step closer to him, as they huddled against the wind. Then she gently grabbed hold of his hand.

"I don't bite, Draco," she grinned. "Just ask me."

He looked into her eyes for a second, then a light bulb was switched on in his head.

"You already know what I'm going to ask, don't you?"

The little blonde grinned up at him. "Well, yes," she admitted, "I've known this was likely to occur since Hermione so obviously went to find you and Ron."

"She's a bit crazy, that one." Draco chuckled.

Luna giggled lightly. "Just a tad! But her heart is most definitely in the right place."

"It is indeed." Agreed Draco. "But we are getting off topic."

"Are we?" Luna asked innocently. "What was the topic again?"

"The topic, Miss Lovegood, is whether a beautiful girl like you would want to join a guy like me for dinner sometime."

"Hmm, depends."

Draco almost rolled his eyes. "On what?"

"On whether the 'guy like you' is actually you!" The sparkle that was in Draco's eyes earlier was now mirrored in Luna's.

"And if it is just me?" he wondered out loud.

"You'll have to start looking for somewhere to take me to dinner," Luna answered.

Draco grinned, almost goofily, at her.

"Was that a yes I detected in that remark?"

Luna mock-thought for a moment. "Hmm. Yes, I do believe you are correct."

"So just to clarify…you, Luna, will in fact go out on a date with me, Draco?"

Luna actually did roll her eyes. "YES DRACO!"

There was silence for a few seconds, then they both had a little chuckle. Luna shivered.

"Do you wanna go back inside?" Draco asked, concerned about how cold she probably was.

She simply snuggled closer to him, "Not just yet."

"Okay." He wrapped his arms gently around her.

They stayed there for another minute or so, then Luna shivered again.

"That's it, we're going inside." His tone was sweet, but he wasn't taking no for an answer.

Luna sighed. "Alright."

Draco removed his arms from around her and turned to face the door.

"Just one thing though…" Luna said softly from behind him.

He turned quickly to find her right behind him. Their eyes locked, Luna placed her hands against Draco's chest and stood on her tippy-toes, his head bent slowly towards hers until their lips met.

It was sweet and gentle, and suddenly they weren't so cold anymore.

They broke apart, giggled and hugged, then went back inside to join their friends for another drink.

They spent the rest of the night warm and comfortable in each other's arms, where they hoped to stay for a very long time.

THE END!

(For now, at least! I'm already considering writing a sequel)!


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